With another assembly election, another family drama unfolds in Maharashtra politics. The state has a long history of family feuds, especially concerning the uncles and nephews of notable political families.
For the past two years, the Pawar family has seen the split between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, sister-in-laws Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar contesting each other, and now nephew Yugendra Pawar going against uncle Ajit Pawar for Baramati constituency.
Who Is Yugendra Pawar?
Debuting for the first time from the Pawar bastion Baramati, Yugendra Pawar is the son of Shrinivas Pawar, brother of Ajit Pawar, and has always been close to Sharad Pawar.
Talking about contesting against his uncle, Yugendra said that it is unfortunate that all of them in the family decided to stay with Sharad Pawar, the founder of the NCP and patriarch. It is because of him that not only Baramati but everybody around also prospered.
Contesting against his veteran uncle, who has been an MLA from Baramati for seven consecutive terms, should be challenging for the debutant nephew, but he feels that the fight against his uncle won’t be tough or easy either.
Samir Bhujbal Rebels Against Uncle Chhagan Bhujbal
In another Uncle-Nephew political dynamic, NCP veteran Chhagan Bhujbal’s nephew Samir Bhujbal quit the party and decided to contest as an independent from Nandgaon, Nashik.
Parting ways from his uncle, Samir Bhujbal claimed that since the incumbent MLA assumed the office, the constituency has deteriorated. He also claimed that local party workers demanded decisive action as the constituency went to Shiv Sena in the alliance.
History of Political Uncle-Nephew Dynamic In Maharashtra
The history of political uncles and nephews in Maharashtra isn’t new, today Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray is debuting with his uncle fielding a contestant against him reminds us of Balasaheb Thackeray.
The founder of Shiv Sena was a great orator, quippy, mass leader, cartoonist, witty about politics, and a core ideologist. When the reins of Shiv Sena had to be handed over, Balasaheb Thackeray chose Uddhav Thackeray, his son.
The speech by Raj Thackeray after resigning from the party exposed the reality of politics going on within the party. Last year, when Shiv Sena split into two factions, Raj recalled the year 2005.
He said that he never wanted to quit Shiv Sena due to loyalty towards his uncle, but he had to leave as there was a definite plot in place to force him out of Shiv Sena. Raj was repeatedly used for political campaigns, was denied any organizational role, and was sidelined from the party.
Similarly, the late Gopinath Munde’s nephew Dhananjay Munde split from his uncle and joined NCP. In the year 2013, Dhananjay Munde resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party considering a fallout with his uncle. His political career with the BJP and his uncle sustained for about 20 years, though the fallout happened years before his resignation.
As per Dhananjay Munde, during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections Gopinath Munde had projected him as the BJP’s candidate for Parli’s Lok Sabha constituency. However, just a month before the elections his cousin and Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde was allocated the Parli seat.
The split within NCP was also considered a result of daughter over nephew, as Sharad Pawar chose to promote Supriya Sule’s stature within the party over Ajit Pawar who spent years building the party.
However, this assembly election will be the ultimate test of Ajit Pawar’s stature without his uncle’s support.
